Dawn of the Hobbit

Pablo and I watched Red Dawn and The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey over the last two weekends.

I liked Red Dawn. I don't remember the first one well enough to compare them. Maybe the characters could have been more fleshed out and Josh could have been less whiny. But it was a good movie night choice. Better than some of the schlock we've seen recently.

The Hobbit was, in one word, disappointing. The first 38 minutes left me flabbergasted. The singing and dancing dwarfs were like a Disney movie. And the plot was nowhere to be found. We started to fast forward after that. Some of the special effects were cheesy and not Lord of the Rings quality. The movie really should have been around 2 hours long. I'm not sure if we'll even see the next one. And, yes, I missed Viggo.

The Thronette

This weekend we watched the first episode of Game of Thrones, season 2. I wish it was funnier or had some more lighthearted moments. Instead of always so much DRAMA. But since it is a drama, I just have to get over it. I tried it with a glass of red wine this time. That helped.

Bachelorette was not so great. I don't know if it was just us but it was very hard to hear the dialogue. So maybe it was way better and funnier than we thought. But I doubt it. The characters weren't very likable so I didn't really care about them. There were a few laughs and a happy ending, but not quite enough good stuff to make up for the rest of the movie.

We also watched the Voice with the kids, season 4, blind auditions. We like the new coaches so far and are enjoying it. The language is not so great, especially for the younger ones. But I guess we like it so much that we are willing to overlook that.

Wee Lass

My baby girl, who is now 5, lost her second tooth. And it is as impossibly tiny as her first one. I've lost track of it 5 times already. This is her second tooth fairy experience. Here's to hoping desperately that I:
1. remember to do it.
2. have a gold dollar coin to leave her.
3. remember to actually swap the tooth for the coin. Late at night. When I'm exhausted and just want to go to sleep.

When I went in to tuck her in and say good night, she was holding her pillow way up high in the air for me to place the tooth under. I showed her the little purple box with her tooth in it, and said, "Would you like to have your tooth under your pillow or right here on the corner of your nightstand? You pick."

And she picked the nightstand!! Score 1 for me! She wanted to be able to watch it all night.

Update: I did remember. I had to use 4 shiny new quarters instead. The nightstand was much easier. And she was very happy this morning.

Sky Soleil Fall Away

This weekend's movie lineup ...

Pablo and I watched Skyfall. As a James Bond fan I wanted to love it. But it felt like it was mostly setting up for the next movie. And he didn't actually save a single person in this movie. It was still good and we actually got some personal background on Bond. My favorite Daniel Craig Bond film is still his first one. I don't like the focus on him being old, does that mean they are going to trade him in soon? And if he's getting old, but they are actually going to the start of the Bond timeline, what does that mean when we get to the Pierce Brosnan years? Very confusing. Still one of the best films I've seen in awhile.

We tried to watch this as a family movie one night. But the younger two were just too scared of it to give it a chance. We watched it the next day and they were able to watch most of it and realize that it wasn't scary, just full of acrobatics, cool stuff and lots of water elements. There was some fighting and a few bad guys, but they dance more than fight. Overall, it was pretty good. On the nit picky side, the story was lacking a bit especially in character motivation. My oldest one (12) probably liked it the most and kept comparing it to watching the Olympics (gymnastics, synchronized swimming, trampoline). My youngest (5) is still scared of the scene where the 2 main characters fall into the sand into the "worlds away". I wish the movie would have ended with them back in the "real world" and happy. That would have been nice for the littler kids.

This is the movie we ended up watching with the kids when Cirque du Soleil was too scary. It had some good silly parts. It was okay for the kids, just some mild sexual innuendo and a few kisses. And adults acting childishly inappropriate. It was their first time seeing Marilyn Monroe. My 9 year old liked it the best. Probably not destined to become a family favorite, but okay for a quick fill-in on family movie night.

Evil Keeps

This weekend we watched...

Playing for Keeps was an okay romcom. The star studded cast didn't help it much. The story line with the son was good. But the rest was a bit too crazy. I didn't feel much chemistry between the two leads either. Not great but not the worst ever.

Resident Evil: Retribution reminded me of why I didn't like the first one. It wasn't all bad. But some of the acting and the lines were so stiff. However, people probably don't watch it for the acting or the plot. She's got a kick-ass outfit (kinda hard to kick ass in those heels, but she manages). And she wore a micro sheet (definitely an homage to Fifth Element). I should probably have watched Fifth Element for the 7th time instead of seeing this one. Again, not great, but we've seen worse.

Speaking of which, Pablo and I were watching previews before the movie and one came on that seemed mediocre. Pablo said, "We've watched worse movies." So apparently that's our standard now to get on the queue. Sad but true.

Fifth-isms

These are all from 5 year old Ellie.

"I'm sweeping up all of the porcupines," said Ellie. (translation: pine needles)

*****

"Let's take the alligator!" (translation: escalator or elevator)

*****

"Is that our garbage truck? .... We are never ever ever going to see our garbage truck."

Is that so, Ms. Swift? I didn't even know we were having relationship woes with our garbage company.

*****

"Where is the Sprint Sky Box? Why haven't they shown it yet?" She is my go-to gal for remembering songs and people's names on the Voice.

*****

"I have a cut on my finger and we haven't solved it yet."

*****

"That looks like the new Cinderella," I said quite innocently. "No, it's not. It's the Chinese Cinderella." What the ??? Does every country get different princesses and how would she know?

*****

"If I don't get 5 of them, I will be bummered." Because she's 5 years old. That's why.

*****

"Daddy's being bustable." (translation: not a clue, combustable?, breaking things?)

*****

"I don't want the trombone for lunch."  (translation: chicken drumstick)

*****

Looking for a new app with me on the computer, "Squirrel over so I can see." (translation: scroll)

The Big Frank

Our weekend's lineup:

Robot & Frank was a slower paced movie. But it was still pretty good. Its theme of friendship was well played. And the memory loss stuff added a note of fantasy to the movie.

We decided to rewatch The Big Lebowski. And it was about the same. About as funny. I didn't love it this time either. But I can appreciate it. There's some gems in there.

Dark Chocolate Brownies

I made these dark chocolate gluten-free brownies for Valentine's Day.

I followed the recipe except that I used 1/2 cup honey and 1/2 cup agave nectar because that is what I had on hand (and I didn't want to use the full 1 1/4 cups called for in the recipe). Since I don't own a hand blender I decided to use our new Vitamix. But that may have not been the best idea as it started to stink like a burning motor and then shut off. And then smoked a little. Hopefully, I have not broken it.

Back to the brownies, my husband and I liked them. So far they are not the kids favorite. Probably too dark chocolatey. They might have liked the extra 1/4 cup of sugar. Both grown ups liked (but didn't love as the best brownies ever) and two out of three kids would eat. As a side note, I ate the whole pan in 48 hours.

The texture is amazing. I can't believe there is no flour in them at all. They certainly pass for normal brownies.

Ted and Run Forever

And keep right on running.

Hit and Run was pretty good. I liked some of the characters, the chemistry between the two leads, the story was mostly okay. It seemed like it really underutilized Kristen Bell. She can be much funnier than this movie showed. Also her character's life's work was in conflict resolution and this movie had plenty of conflict where you would have thought they could have used that as a funny plot point.

I didn't really want to see Ted. But I saw it on a best movie of 2012 list and thought it might be worth a try. It had a few funny parts and amusing situations, but it wasn't great. I didn't care about the characters and if there had been a power outage in the middle of the movie, I would have been just fine with walking away.

Celeste and Jesse Forever was billed as a romantic comedy. I think a more apt description would be a drama. It was mildly funny in parts. The plot was not the typical rom-com formula. During the third act, I got bored with the wallowing. Overall, it was okay.

Valentine's Day Soup Version 2

This is a beautiful and delicious soup. Hearty, healthy and super red!

Beet Chili

Ingredients

1 T. organic coconut oil (or extra virgin olive oil)
1 diced onion
2 T. minced garlic (or 6ish cloves)
1 large beet peeled and diced (smaller so it cooks faster)
1 pound organic ground beef
1 can tomato sauce
2 cups beef stock (or chicken)
1-2 tsp dried basil
1-2 tsp dried oregano
1-2 tsp cinnamon
1-2 tsp turmeric
3 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp sea salt
20 turns on the pepper grinder
2 cups canned pumpkin

Saute the onion in the oil for 10 minutes or so. Add the garlic and beets. Saute for a few minutes. Then I covered the pan and let it cook/steam for another 10 minutes.

Then I added the ground beef and cooked until browned through. It was hard to tell when it was brown since the beets turn everything red. Just to be sure, I cooked it a few extra minutes.

Once the meat is browned, add the stock, tomato and all the spices. Simmer for 20 minutes. Then I was worried that the vegetable to meat ratio wasn't high enough. So I added the pumpkin and simmered for 10 more minutes or until the beets are tender.

I served it as is. But I suppose a garnish of fresh cilantro would have been a nice touch. Or grated cheese or a dollop of sour cream. It was wonderful just as it was, though.